Chapter 7, Do not think about it! (5)

Xia Jing withdrew his gaze and showed a gentle smile to the few people, "Well, he is not a monster."

Jia Qing and Liu Yi: If he's not a monster, why did he attack so fiercely? This smiling guy is so scary!!

As if hearing their thoughts, Xia Jing blinked innocently, "I controlled the force and didn't even deduct any points."

Song Yang, who had just been deducted ten points by the system, twitched his mouth: So you're pretty powerful huh?

Xia Jing's smile widened even more at the corner of his mouth: Same to you.

Song Yang to Jia Qing and Liu Yi: Do you have telepathy or something?!

Jin Nan reacted with disbelief and crawled up from the ground. He ran over, pushing aside a few people to look into the broadcasting room. Then he turned around angrily and questioned, "Do you know?" The other three looked at him. What does he know? Xia Jing also looked at Jin Nan with narrowed eyes and smiled, "Your ability is interesting. Is it control? Or just the ability to move things remotely?" Jin Nan clenched his fists...

Xia Jing: Ah, it seems like the latter.

Jin Nan: You—Song Yang frowned and quickly glanced at Jin Nan. "Does he have an ability?"

Jia Qing opened his mouth wide. "Is he a superpower?"

Jin Nan breathed heavily with a changing complexion.

Jia Qing and Liu Yi thought to themselves, "If he's not a monster, then why did he attack so fiercely? This smiling guy is so scary!" As if hearing their thoughts, Xia Jing blinked innocently and said, "I controlled my strength; I didn't even deduct any points." Song Yang, who had just been deducted ten points by the system, twitched his mouth and asked Xia Jing sarcastically, "So you're pretty powerful huh?" Xia Jing's smile widened even more at the corner of his mouth as she replied, "Same goes for you." Song Yang then turned to Jia Qing and Liu Yi and asked them in disbelief, "Do you guys have telepathy or something?!" When Jin Nan realized what was happening ,he crawled up from ground in disbelief . He ran over,pushed aside others,and looked into broadcasting room — He turned around angrily questioning : "You ... do you know?"

The other three looked at him. "Know what?" What does that mean? Xiao Jing also narrowed her eyes and smiled, "Your abilities are interesting. Is it control or just remote object pushing capabilities?" Jin Nan clenched his fist. Xiao Jing said, "Ah, it seems like later." Jin Nan frowned and quickly glanced at Jinnan, "Does she have special powers?" Jai Qing opened his mouth wide, "Is she a superhero?"

Jin Nan breathed heavily, his complexion changing. After entering Smile City, countless ordinary human players realized that there were indeed many people in this world with superpowers. As long as they entered the instance a few more times, everyone could encounter one or two - whether it was being able to hear others' thoughts or having X-ray vision, the abilities of these superhumans varied. Of course, no matter what environment they were in, superhumans were always a minority. However, the density of superhumans in Smile City was definitely much higher than in the real world, which led countless players to speculate whether Smile City had specific criteria for selecting players - so far no answer has been found.

Xia Jing's rough voice echoed through the quiet corridor as he picked up the microphone and held it close to his chest, gently stroking it as if it were his own toy. "Taking initiative can earn you more points after surviving until the end, but taking initiative also means putting yourself in danger," Song Yang's gaze swept over the microphone. Jin Nan stared at him intently, realizing that Xia Jing had already seen through his intentions and that he might have been played all along. His expression was extremely ugly.

"What method is there to ensure your own safety while earning more points? Although you have a special ability, you also know that it's difficult for your ability to protect yourself. At most, your ability can only do this - when someone stands very close to you and you give them a gentle push towards the monster." As Xia Jing spoke, Liu Yi and Jia Qing's faces darkened. With such a "companion" by their side, everyone's situation would become very dangerous. Xia Jing continued to smile lightly: "But isn't this enough?" He lifted his head up..

Jin Nan gritted his teeth and turned red with anger. "You should assess your opponent's abilities before taking action - whether they have powerful items or represent extensive experience with high points. When you make a rough judgment in your mind and feel that their abilities are lower than yours, then you can start acting and feed them to monsters."

"If the opponent's ability turns out to be stronger than you expected, then you can use your abilities to deliver a final blow when the opponent is about to defeat the monster. Your abilities can evade detection by the system, and the system will not judge that you killed the player."

"If the opponent's ability turns out to be weaker than you expected, it doesn't matter either. If the opponent dies, you can assess whether you can handle this monster through their battle process. If not, you can just run away."

"And your ultimate goal is not to gain points through 'taking initiative'."

"What you want is player points and pieces of monsters' bodies and attack parts."

Jia Qing and Liu Yi finally realized at this moment that the parts on a monster's body could be roughly divided into two categories: attack parts and other body parts. Attack parts could be directly taken from a monster's body as "monster props" with numerous mysterious abilities that numerous capable players would go all out for in dungeon raids. And although seemingly useless, those who paid attention to Smile City's overall situation—even if they hadn't been inside Safe House—knew of its existence and what having pieces of monsters' bodies meant! As long as one held standard pieces of monsters' bodies in hand, encountering Safe House in future dungeons would grant them access inside while also allowing direct exchange for monster props unavailable at Smile City's official supermarket! That's right—the official supermarket only sold weapons like ropes, knives, axes etc. But Safe House's mini-supermarket was filled with an array of monster props!

Therefore, both pieces of monsters' bodies and attack parts were very valuable items for players. Jin Nan clearly had his own plan; he cunningly used Xia Jing as his pawn! Xia Jing nearly hit Jin Nan's thoughts spot-on; now infuriated beyond measure at this point with veins bulging on his forehead. He feared death but also desperately wanted to accumulate ten thousand points quickly so he could leave this terrifying world behind. Originally, if Zhang Laoshi was a monster, then he occupied an excellent position within that classroom. Eight players were all in one place while he was positioned furthest from danger, waiting until others died before rushing forward as often as possible for additional player points before figuring out how to obtain pieces of monsters' bodies.

Translation: "If ultimately your adversary proves stronger than anticipated," she said slowly, "you may still strike when they are close enough." She paused again and added, "Your powers allow evasion from detection by our systems."

"And if they prove to be weaker," she continued, "their demise matters little." After another pause, she added, "You can assess your abilities during their struggle against these creatures. If it becomes clear that escape is necessary… Your main objective does not involve initiating conflict," she stated firmly. "What interests us are the heads collected along with the remains of the creatures." Jia Qing and Liu Yi realized that creature anatomy can be broadly divided into two categories: offensive appendages and remaining bodily structures. Offensive appendages serve as' creature artifacts', which are coveted by skilled adventurers navigating perilous dungeons. Remaining bodily structures may seem inconsequential but they are significant indicators known even among those who are not initiated within our walls! They signify entry into secure chambers where such artifacts await collection unseen elsewhere within our city limits!

Our public marketplace offers only mundane weaponry such as ropes or blades, whereas secure chambers boast an assortment exclusive to themselves. Thus, creatures alongside offensive appendages hold immense value. Jin Nan obviously devised a strategy using Xia Jing unwittingly. Xia Jing almost unraveled Jin Nan's scheme altogether; now seething with rage evident through pronounced veins across his brow. Fearful yet desperate, he yearned earnestly to amass ten thousand credits swiftly and depart from this accursed realm posthaste. Had Zhang Laoshi truly assumed a monstrous form, his positioning proved advantageous amidst the classroom confines. Eight participants congregated together while he remained rearmost and distanced farthest from impending peril, awaiting opportune moments for harvesting additional headcounts prior to devising means of securing creature artifacts.

　　Later, Song Yang and the other two organized a trip to the teacher's office, and Jin Nan also attempted to join them at that time. If they truly managed to defeat the monster, then several players could leave the instance. If Jin Nan did not take any action, his instance evaluation score would not be elevated. Even if only Song Yang survived among the three of them, along with Huang Mo's three player head points, it wouldn't be enough. He wouldn't even have a share of the monster's body parts. So would this instance be considered as a waste? At that moment, Xia Jing suggested going to the campus broadcasting room and everyone realized that there might also be a monster in there. Jin Nan quickly weighed his options and chose to follow Xia Jing. His plan was really last-minute and rough; halfway through he even hesitated because Xia Jing seemed deaf and couldn't hear him shouting. But Jin Nan felt like it was fate for this fatty guy to die here today..

He quickly thought about it, but now it seems like this young man named Xia Jing had already guessed his plan from the beginning and outsmarted him. If there truly was a monster in the broadcasting room, looking at how confident Xia Jing looked, all of the benefits must have been taken by this guy alone! Thinking about this made Jin Nan particularly annoyed. He reached out to grab Xia Jing's collar, but in the next second, a black standing microphone in Xia Jing's hand suddenly split open from its top revealing a row of sharp teeth inside. The pole extended rapidly as its big mouth opened wide with "hehehe" laughter before biting down heavily on Jin Nan's arm. With a crisp "click", blood splattered out as Jin Nan screamed in pain while frantically struggling to free his arm after being bitten several times until finally pulling it out from within the microphone's mouth which had already bitten off large chunks of flesh exposing bone underneath.

　　Liu Yi and Jia Qing were both shocked by this sudden shift. Song Yang also looked stunned, although he had noticed the microphone and guessed something, he thought that since Xia Jing could take out the microphone, it should have been "dead"... Jin Nan fell to the ground, rolling in pain with a pale face and sweating all over, groaning continuously! The standing microphone was still "clicking" and opening and closing its mouth, with two rows of teeth making a terrifying sound mixed with gasping for breath as if it were still craving additional flesh and blood, viciously like a wild beast. A pretty hand landed on top of the standing microphone. The microphone froze for a moment, its mouth stopped moving, and a bright red piece of flesh was still shaking between its teeth.The hand gently stroked the microphone again, and it obediently closed its mouth and slowly retracted into the stand. In just one second, it turned back into what seemed to be an ordinary microphone. Jia Qing and Liu Yi took deep breaths as they stepped back, their faces suddenly changing: "This...this thing is--" Xia Jing smiled slyly: "I said broadcasters are not monsters but I didn't say there are no monsters in the broadcast room." The broadcaster's voice sounded smooth and normal, completely different from the rough male voice they heard on campus loudspeakers because the real monster is this standing microphone. It changed the broadcaster's voice by adding an element of magic that can brainwash people. As long as it releases words like "don't think about it", players will involuntarily want to think about it more; any other sound released through it will disturb players' minds causing them to unease.

Jia Qing and Liu Yi had already shrunk into a corner, hugging each other tightly—no, wait—they wanted to ask, "Why are you hugging this live monster like you're hugging a pet dog? Why are you talking to them while holding onto this live monster? Is this even human?" Song Yang also momentarily lost his words at that moment too.

　　He turned around and glanced at Jinnan, who was nearly fainting on the ground. After a moment of silence, he gave Jia Qing a look, indicating him to take out the medical supplies from the space bag. Song Yang is not a saintly father and doesn't have too much kindness. If it were in battle now, let alone Jin Nan losing an arm, even if he died, Song Yang wouldn't care or be able to save him. Moreover, who can enter the terrifying world without being indifferent to life and death? But now is not that time after all. Of course, he didn't say enough about Xia Jing's actions either. Jin Nan deserved it and this youthful man in front of him clearly couldn't be judged by common sense. Song Yang simply closed his eyes and felt for a moment. When monsters are killed or entirely collected into the space bag by players, even if they die, the game ends. If the game ends, players will get the option to exit the instance in their consciousness but probably not now..

It also makes sense. Monsters in two-star instances cannot possibly be just some insignificant speaker-like monsters. The speaker monster is only a small sub-monster after all. Song Yang opened his eyes and saw Xia Jing frowning gravely as he stuffed the speaker monster into his pouch-like space bag again and put it back into his pocket with a smile. This person looks weird, as if there are no ordinary human desires, but collecting monsters so eagerly is quite cute childishness. Of course, Song Yang also collects monster body parts and attack positions in instances, but for such an insignificant speaker monster like this one, he couldn't be bothered to compete with Xia Jing for it."

　　Xia Jingping calmly analyzed, "It's obvious that he wants to use my intentions, and his method of verifying that my abilities are weaker than his is simply a brief test and observation. A person must have something about them to be so self-confident." "If his' something 'is a monster item he obtained from different copies, then everyone knows that using monster items on players will result in point deduction and confinement in the black room as judged by the system. The same goes for individually harming players. Besides this, his only reliance is some supernatural ability that can evade system monitoring."Song Yang raised an eyebrow and asked, "How can you be sure that his ability is just a 'gentle push' rather than making things worse for you?" Xia Jing smirked and replied, "If he really had such powerful abilities, would he need to use someone else as a scapegoat? With Jin Nan's greedy personality, he would have already rushed forward to dismantle the monsters himself and collect all their remains." Actually, Song Yang didn't need to ask; he could possibly guess the answer. It's just that from Xia Jing's tone of voice, he could tell that this person was actually playing the game or even playing with the players themselves.Song Yang shook his head, feeling amazed and eerie. He kicked open the door of the broadcasting room and took a look around before saying to Liu Yi and Jia Qing, who were treating Jin Nan's wounds, "We still have some time left; let's search here together and see if there are any other clues." The broadcasting room wasn't really tall; it took four people over ten minutes to check everything carefully. There weren't any very clear findings except for Liu Yi finding a school rule book which she stared at intently.